The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-05-19
THOUGHTS FOR THE MONTH.
" =. Jones, in the Southern caztiuator.

w. L. Jones, in the Southern ct'ltisator.
The fight with grass and weeds has
now fairly begun. If the first working is
properly done, success is easy; ;;.if not
Ii the struggle is apt to be long and bard lar
Because the little grass is hardly visible
tbe farmers fears ara not fully. aroused,
and he is tempted to go over his crop
hastily and perhaps carelessly. a little
loose dirt from hoe or plow hides but
does not smother the young grass, and
the frat rain uncovers it and stimulates
to rapid growth. Where is the farmer Of
any experience who has mot felt the
power Of "May" grass? 1t comes up
round the cotton plant and hugs it
closely; it sends its roots down quickly
into the manure intended for the cotton,
and grows with amazing rapidity. In
hoeing it, the dirt is apt to be taken
from the cotton and the latter falls over,
or the hand is delayed to hill itup again
The time.to strapgle the. demon is at its
birth-kill it by the time or before it
reaches the surface. The lightest, slight.
est stirring ofthe soil will then destroy
it. Hence the excellent work OF the
harrow if started in time. It will kill
che grass but mot the cotton. But it
must. be started in. time-just as the cot
ton is coming mp; it must strike the
grass just as the latter also is coming up;
later than that, it will only help to cult.
svate it;and make iitgrdw sfaster.s Rusthe
Iswork may also be we'll done with a
sweep properly set and started in time.
The wing must run SO fiat as to throw
little dirt; this allows the siding to be
very close, and all the grass to be cut,
except, very narrow strip of it along
the drill. Now ifthe work is done.early,
when the grass isjust coming npSenough
dirt may be thrown upon it to kill that
on this strip without covering or mash
ing down the young cotton. But every.
thing depends on doing the work at the
proper time.
Another mistake often made is to fol.
low the plow Immediately with the hoe
the result is the dir: thrown on the grass
by the plow is removed by the hoe and
the grass thereby uncovered. Follow the
plow with theghoe at an interval of a
week, and, if possible, let the plows fol-
low closely on the hoes SO as to smother
-again any uncovered, uncut grass.
Observe the plows are to.be started the
FIRST time very early, just as the cotton
fairly begins to come up; ifthis is done,
the hoes can afford to wait a week. But
if the plowiug is delayed till the cotton
is one or two weeks old, the hoes cannot
be. held back because the cotton will
need thinning too badly. As stated
before, everything depends upon doing
work at the proper time; this is equally
important as doing it in proper manner.
It has always seemed to us that the
"blocking" out of cotton was labor lost.
It can be brought to final stand about
as easily before it is blocked as after.
Early and frequent plowing are needed
to- break crusts and keep the plants
healthy and growing, but do not start
the hoes till the proper time to bring the
cotton to final stand. If the seed have
not been sown too thick, or if the plants
have been judiciously thinned out by a
harrow, two plowiugs may be given
before the first hoeing. The plow ought
to do everything but the thinning Of the
cotton. We rely too much On hoe work
it is too expensive and eats tpAtoo much
of the profits; never lose sight of the
great problem Of reducing the cost of
production; never forget that horse
power is cheaper than human power, and
machines than human hands.
Cotton calls for frequent working iniits
early stages; it is important to push it
rapidly beyond the point where it suffers
from "sore shins" and lice. In the olden
time it was thought best to side cotton
with scooter, shovel or other deep run.
ming -plows. Ample experience has
shown that this is neither necessary nor
desirable. The crop is best cultivated
from beginning toisend with sweep or
scrape, set to run quite shallow. A soil
deeply broken before planting, :. but
allowed to settle and become somewhat
compact provided that the surface lis
kept stirred, seems most conducive to
fruiting. Aside from the matter of root.
cutting, there seems to be decided
advantagein shallow culture to cotton
crop. 1t makes the growth steady and
uniform, and nothing contributes more
than such growth to fruitiug and the
hold on to fruit. Rapid growth, followed
by a sudden check, is the chief cause of
shedding. We cannot always prevent
the check, but we may do something
towards putting the crop in condition to
receive it with least injury. The object
ofthe farmer should be to keep his cotton
growing steadily, but not too rapidly.
Rapid growth is always dangerous; it
makes sappy, tender plant, extremely
sensitive to every adverse influence.
During the next three months dry
weather may be looked for, in the natu.
raj course: Of things, in our climate.
How to ward off its effects should be kept
steadily in view in all the operations Of
the farm. How best to keep the reserved
moisture in the soil;is the great question,
Flat cultivation stands first and foremost
among the means for accomplishing this,
Evaporation is directly proportional to
surface aud surface is greatly increased
by ridging. High beds increase the sur.
face at least one;sixth, and increase
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